There are times where you sit through your drunk uncle’s incoherent ramblings because you know there’ll be an inevitable payoff in the brief moment he says or does something funny, unbeknownst to himself or many of the other bags of hot air in the room swilling their too-strong gin and tonics. There are moments within The Crying Light where Antony Hegarty’s minimal orchestral arrangements also seem to justify this kind of wait, but ultimately, sitting through Hegarty over-dramatically and repetitively croon about life and death is not entirely worth it.

While Hegarty is undoubtedly skilled in his vocal ability, the dramatics seem to evolve the vocals into more of a caricature that was a better and more entertaining fit with his Hercules and Love Affair project from last year.

Although there is certainly more than a drunk uncle’s worth of moments strewn throughout the album in terms of lyrical content, listening to sad songs sung in a depressing operatic vibrato becomes taxing and eventually makes you appreciate the fact that a drunk uncle at least has the decency to put himself to bed when things get uncomfortable.